The Morning and the Evening

Finalist for the National Book Award: Joan Williams’s unforgettable first novel is the story of a small Southern town struggling to care for one of its own

In a rundown farmhouse in Mississippi, Jake Darby wakes up one morning to find his world forever changed. His long-suffering mother has died overnight, abandoning forty-year-old Jake, who is mute and, according to his neighbors, not quite right in the head. With no family to take him in, it is up to the townspeople of Marigold to take care of Jake, a grave responsibility that brings out the best—and the worst—of a community in which painful truths are usually hidden from sight. In such a place, even the kindest of acts can lead to the most tragic of outcomes.

Heralded as the debut of a major new talent when it was first published in 1961, The Morning and the Evening won the John P. Marquand First Novel Award from the Book-of-the-Month Club and established Joan Williams as a leading voice in Southern literature. Elegant, compassionate, and deeply unsettling, it is a portrait of the human spirit in all of its flawed and intricate beauty, and a tale firmly grounded in reality yet told with all the power of myth.

“First novels as deft and disciplined as this are rare indeed. . . . The Morning and the Evening should delight thoughtful lovers of the best in fiction.” —TheNew York Times

“A haunting and beautiful tale, richly infused with humor and sharp insights into the human predicament. Not the least of Miss Williams’ talents is her perfectly focused rendering of the Southern landscape. . . . A fine work.” —William Styron

“The Morning and the Evening places Joan Williams with that distinguished group of writers which includes Harper Lee, Elizabeth Spencer, Flannery O’Connor, Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers.” —Nashville Banner

“Remarkable.” —Time

“A gifted writer in superb control of her craft.” —The New York Times Book Review

“To her simple materials, Joan Williams brings the art of the born storyteller, subtlety of psychological insight, and a deep clarity of feeling. She has, in fact, the last and greatest gift: to move the heart.” —Robert Penn Warren

“Unique . . . honest, moving, compassionate.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“A very beautiful book.” —Harpers Magazine

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